The present invention relates to virtual objects and services.
Online virtual environments provide a medium in which real world users (“users”) can interact with each other. These virtual environments include but are not limited to: chat rooms; instant messaging communities; and virtual worlds, which in turn can include social worlds such as lambda MUCK, online gaming environments such as Sierra online and EA online, and massive, multiplayer fantasy worlds such as Everquest, Ultima Online, and Asheron's Call.
Virtual environments share some common properties. First, all users participate in a shared context. That is, users typically experience a common environment. For example, two users in a virtual room will experience the same virtual room, including seeing the same room appearance and hearing the same noises in the room.
Furthermore, in some virtual environments, such as a virtual world, users are represented by virtual characters, which will be referred to as avatars. Avatars can be represented textually or visually, depending on the virtual world. For example, in a virtual world where real world players interact through text messages, an avatar can be a simple textual handle such as Bob or Mary. In contrast, in a virtual world that is graphical in context, an avatar can be represented in graphical form. Avatars may be human in appearance but need not be so. In fact, an avatar may take on any shape or form, may perform any action, and may speak in any voice or language, subject to the constraints of the online virtual world in which they reside.
In addition to having avatars, some virtual environments such as a virtual world, can also contain a rich set of virtual objects. In general, a virtual object is defined by its function and form. The functional component of a virtual object describes its functional properties such as whether it is a container, whether it can be worn, where it can be worn, how heavy it is, and what special powers it has. In contrast, the form component of a virtual object describes the look, feel, and sound of the good. Virtual objects can have some function within their virtual world, can be solely used for decorative purposes, or can be both decorative and functional. The virtual avatar, is at its base a virtual object. It has a function, as well as form. An avatar is a special type of virtual object, however, in that it represents a user and is controlled by the user.
The form of most avatars and virtual objects are determined by choosing from a fixed number of appearance options during an avatar or virtual-object creation phase. Often a separate avatar creation phase must be completed for each virtual world, and characters and virtual objects can rarely be transferred across different virtual worlds. Even if they are transferable, the transferred avatar or virtual object exists out of context. For example, the transferred avatar may be a caveman who would be completely out of context in a futuristic virtual world.
Avatars and virtual objects may be customized to a limited extent, the extent depending on the virtual world to which they belong. In some virtual worlds like the SIMs (Electronic Arts) and Unreal Tournament (GT interactive), avatar and virtual object formats are open. That is, users have access to and can modify the form and function of their respective avatars and virtual objects. Accordingly, customization is possible in terms of both function and form. These virtual worlds will be referred to as open worlds. In other virtual worlds like Everquest (Sony), Asheron's Call (Microsoft), and Ultima Online (Electronic Arts), the formats are closed and unavailable to users. In these cases, customization is limited to the rules established by owners of the virtual worlds. These virtual worlds will be referred to as closed worlds.
Virtual objects are being traded in both open and closed worlds. In closed worlds, users must typically put up virtual objects for bidding on a Web site, such as Ebay®, in the real world. Once the bidding commences, and the transfer of real world money is complete, the participating users must arrange to have their respective avatars meet in the relevant virtual world and exchange the relevant virtual objects.
There are some problems with exchanging virtual objects in this fashion. Such exchanges are cumbersome. Users must manually transfer the virtual objects themselves, even though the goods are fully digital in nature. Furthermore, the transfer of goods within the virtual world is unsafe. No security is in place to keep the selling avatar from reacquiring the virtual objects from the buying avatar after the transfer of virtual objects has occurred. For example, nothing prevents the selling avatar from stealing from or killing the buying avatar. Another problem is that the supply of virtual objects are not controlled. Specifically, virtual objects are sold in an ad-hoc manner and their supply is essentially uncontrolled. This lack of control leads to inflationary conditions within the virtual worlds and unstable goods prices within the marketplace. As a result of this uncertainty, the number of trades that occur are limited.
In open worlds such as Unreal, Quake, and the SIMs, users exchange virtual objects through repositories. These repositories accept free virtual object contributions from users, and, in return, make the contributed goods available for free to everyone.
There are some problems with exchanging virtual objects in this fashion. There is little incentive to create high quality virtual objects because there are no monetary rewards for doing so. There is also no control on quality. Because such repositories are free and often managed for free by users, the quality among virtual objects may differ significantly. As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to procure or find high quality virtual objects even if one is willing to pay for it. In addition, little support is given in terms of search and browse functionalities. Furthermore, there are no built-in controls to ensure that the virtual objects actually follow the artistic and functional themes of the virtual environments in which they reside. This break down in themes ultimately may result in a chaotic world, with no consistent world rules to preserve a common context among its users. Such chaos will degrade the experience for users of all virtual environments.
In summary, even though virtual objects are currently traded, most of these trades are limited, insecure, and unmanaged. As a result, the virtual objects available for trading are limited in both quality and range, difficult to find, limited in scope of use, and often unsupported.